Help launch Women of Esports
Donation protected
We founded Women of Esports (WoE) in September 2018 to empower women in the esports industry through our global community and mentorship program. We now have over 350 members in our Discord server and 100 participants in our mentorship program. We’re actively working to help women start their careers in esports, but there’s so much more that needs to be done.
In March 2018, Women in Games stated that women make up just 5% of the people working or playing in the esports industry. In a January 2017 survey of 2,000 gamers, SuperData found that esports viewership is 23% female. While these numbers may not be wholly accurate anymore, the discrepancy between women that are fans of esports and that work in the industry is clear. With your help, we’re hoping to change that—for the better of the industry overall.
So far the Women of Esports staff has been funding everything out of our pockets, but that’s not sustainable long-term based on what we want to do. For transparency, we’ve sorted our funding goals into tiers based on what we feel needs to be done first. All of these funds will go into a bank account opened just for Women of Esports.
TIER 1 - Admin and Design - FUNDED
These are our most pressing costs and need to be funded within the next month.
- WordPress + Domain name ($599) - FUNDED
In order to have plugins and a custom theme on our website we need a WordPress Business account. This will also let us track stats through Google Analytics. This amount is for two years.
- SurveyMonkey ($384) - FUNDED
We have application forms for the Discord server as well as for Mentors and Mentees in our Mentorship Program. In order to use branching and question and answer piping, which means we have to do a lot less follow-up before accepting people or matching them up, we need a SurveyMonkey Advantage account, which includes both of these features while Google Forms (what we’re currently using) does not. This amount is for one year.
- Website, Logo, Newsletter design costs - FUNDED
We have partnered with a branding and design agency to get our website and logo redesigned . They will also be designing our future newsletter so we can start sending that out (we will be doing this through MailChimp, which we won’t have to pay for until we hit over 2,000 sign-ups). The agency we're working with has graciously agreed to do this work for us pro-bono, so we no longer need your support to fund this.
TIER 2 - Content - $3,000
Shining a spotlight on amazing women that work in the esports industry has already been a focus for us, and in December we worked with some of the staff at leading industry news site Dot Esports to create a holiday series profiling women in the industry. We want to continue this by starting our own written content, both profiles and narrative feature stories, about women in esports.
We've got a sponsorship for the narrative content series, which we'll be releasing more information about at the end of March. But in order to hire freelance writers and artists for our profiles we need to have some funds already allocated for this purpose. This amount should be able to fund our plans for profile content through to October 2019. The sooner we reach our goal for this tier the sooner we’ll be able to get started on producing some amazing stories, but our plan at the moment is to have the first story come out with the launch of the new website at the start of April.
TIER 3 - Meetups - $1,000
As part of our goal to connect women in the esports industry we’re looking to host official meetups starting later this year (most likely with TwitchCon and BlizzCon). For the meetups these funds will be allocated towards venue costs, food, and non-alcoholic drinks.
TIER 4 - Video Equipment - $5,000
We’re also looking at investing in some professional video equipment so we can start doing video content—both profiles of women in the industry and videos of our meetups. The video equipment costs will go towards the camera, a lav mic, a shotgun mic, and a tripod.
BONUS FUNDING - Staff Compensation and Extra Content
If we happen to make more than our intended goal the additional money will go towards compensating our amazing staff who are working on a volunteer basis to get all of our projects off the ground. Depending on the amount raised over our goal, additional money will also go towards extra content—our written content, video content, and planned podcasts.
With the goals we’ve laid out we hope to shape the esports industry into a more inclusive and welcoming place—giving guidance and support to women so that the stats aren’t as skewed a year from now. The content and resources we’re providing to women in the industry—and the industry as a whole—cannot be found elsewhere. You can help us do this and every amount donated is extremely appreciated.
We would like to thank everyone in the community that has supported us thus far—particularly the amazing industry leaders that have signed up to be part of the Mentorship Program to guide the next generation of women in hopefully finding careers in esports.
In March 2018, Women in Games stated that women make up just 5% of the people working or playing in the esports industry. In a January 2017 survey of 2,000 gamers, SuperData found that esports viewership is 23% female. While these numbers may not be wholly accurate anymore, the discrepancy between women that are fans of esports and that work in the industry is clear. With your help, we’re hoping to change that—for the better of the industry overall.
So far the Women of Esports staff has been funding everything out of our pockets, but that’s not sustainable long-term based on what we want to do. For transparency, we’ve sorted our funding goals into tiers based on what we feel needs to be done first. All of these funds will go into a bank account opened just for Women of Esports.
TIER 1 - Admin and Design - FUNDED
These are our most pressing costs and need to be funded within the next month.
- WordPress + Domain name ($599) - FUNDED
In order to have plugins and a custom theme on our website we need a WordPress Business account. This will also let us track stats through Google Analytics. This amount is for two years.
- SurveyMonkey ($384) - FUNDED
We have application forms for the Discord server as well as for Mentors and Mentees in our Mentorship Program. In order to use branching and question and answer piping, which means we have to do a lot less follow-up before accepting people or matching them up, we need a SurveyMonkey Advantage account, which includes both of these features while Google Forms (what we’re currently using) does not. This amount is for one year.
- Website, Logo, Newsletter design costs - FUNDED
We have partnered with a branding and design agency to get our website and logo redesigned . They will also be designing our future newsletter so we can start sending that out (we will be doing this through MailChimp, which we won’t have to pay for until we hit over 2,000 sign-ups). The agency we're working with has graciously agreed to do this work for us pro-bono, so we no longer need your support to fund this.
TIER 2 - Content - $3,000
Shining a spotlight on amazing women that work in the esports industry has already been a focus for us, and in December we worked with some of the staff at leading industry news site Dot Esports to create a holiday series profiling women in the industry. We want to continue this by starting our own written content, both profiles and narrative feature stories, about women in esports.
We've got a sponsorship for the narrative content series, which we'll be releasing more information about at the end of March. But in order to hire freelance writers and artists for our profiles we need to have some funds already allocated for this purpose. This amount should be able to fund our plans for profile content through to October 2019. The sooner we reach our goal for this tier the sooner we’ll be able to get started on producing some amazing stories, but our plan at the moment is to have the first story come out with the launch of the new website at the start of April.
TIER 3 - Meetups - $1,000
As part of our goal to connect women in the esports industry we’re looking to host official meetups starting later this year (most likely with TwitchCon and BlizzCon). For the meetups these funds will be allocated towards venue costs, food, and non-alcoholic drinks.
TIER 4 - Video Equipment - $5,000
We’re also looking at investing in some professional video equipment so we can start doing video content—both profiles of women in the industry and videos of our meetups. The video equipment costs will go towards the camera, a lav mic, a shotgun mic, and a tripod.
BONUS FUNDING - Staff Compensation and Extra Content
If we happen to make more than our intended goal the additional money will go towards compensating our amazing staff who are working on a volunteer basis to get all of our projects off the ground. Depending on the amount raised over our goal, additional money will also go towards extra content—our written content, video content, and planned podcasts.
With the goals we’ve laid out we hope to shape the esports industry into a more inclusive and welcoming place—giving guidance and support to women so that the stats aren’t as skewed a year from now. The content and resources we’re providing to women in the industry—and the industry as a whole—cannot be found elsewhere. You can help us do this and every amount donated is extremely appreciated.
We would like to thank everyone in the community that has supported us thus far—particularly the amazing industry leaders that have signed up to be part of the Mentorship Program to guide the next generation of women in hopefully finding careers in esports.
Organizer
Women Of Esports
Organizer
Austin, TX